#DBC50Summer

#DBC50Summer 35/50: The Wild Card

/ Alicia Ray / 5 Comments

One of my most (positive) vivid memories of my childhood was camping with my family. Now I’m not talking about tent camping – no, thank you! (I slept in a tent once at a birthday sleepover after a bonfire when I was almost 17… never again. Never.) No, we stayed in a fifth wheel camper set up at a campground on the mountain about an hour from our house. There were several families from our town that owned campers there and we’d spend many weekends during the summer enjoying the outdoors and community at the campground. My mom and dad were still married, so I couldn’t have been older than 10 or 11, but the memories stick with me like glue. The best part? They let me stay up until all hours of the night playing the card game called Spades with the other campers there in the campground community house.

Creating memorable experiences that stick like glue is what we want for our classrooms. Playing those games didn’t have a thing to do with school, curriculum, content… or did it? I learned critical thinking, strategy, probability, the power of failure, thrill of victory, and how to do it all while absolutely exhausted, refusing to admit it because my parents would make me go to the camper and get some sleep. Perhaps those nights are what drive my love for games now. That’s a thought for another day, though.

For now, let’s discuss book 35 in the Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc line of incredible books. (By the way, they just released a tremendous new website for DBC, Inc! Check out the latest and greatest features here. Spoiler: features include previews of each book, how to follow along with authors/book communities in multiple social media/blog accounts, and how to purchase autographed copies of book like Teach Like A Pirate. Subscribe and be entered for a chance to win a free book each month!)

Book 35 is called The Wild Card and is co-authored by Wade & Hope King, a husband & wife team. (This is the third instance of a husband/wife collaboration in DBC, Inc. P is for Pirate co-authored by Dave & Shelley Burgess, How Much Water Do We Have? written by Pete Nunweiler with contributions from his wife, Kris were the other two.)

I’m going to admit something that many educators might find shameful. I have never read a single Ron Clark book. (I know… I know. I’ve heard.) I’ll take it one step further…I’ve never watched the movie either. (My aunt is going to be so disappointed when she finds out I never turned it on when she sent me those text messages.) I’m totally not slamming Ron Clark. I love what he has done for education, and I think The Ron Clark Academy is the bees’ knees. Can I redeem myself by saying I read this book and loved it? Not realize the connection? Hope & Wade King work at the Ron Clark Academy; Hope is a reading master educator and Wade is a social studies master educator and Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Before we dive into the book, you should know you’re going to want your own copy – I’d suggest a physical copy so you can highlight and write all over it. You’ll want to. Here’s a link. You’re welcome.

This was another of those books where I didn’t come up from air while reading. I really didn’t need to… it was an engaging read. It had a perfect mix of guide book, personal experiences, and excellent ideas to challenge you in the classroom. The book is divided into three sections – Wild Card, Creative Breakthrough, and Toolbox.

Wild Card talks about the metaphor of being the wild card for your students. Every student is dealt a different hand, and the wild card can either make or break you. Hope & Wade challenge us to be a wild card that makes the hand unbeatable. They discuss the Joker in one chapter, which totally resonated with me. I battle with self-doubt often, and I, too, have panic attacks. Like Hope, I strive for perfection and that perfectionism has been the primary source for many anxiety attacks in my life. I never want to be a disappointment; it’s one of my biggest fears. Others fear death or public speaking… my biggest fears are fire, having to choose which of my daughters to save in a catastrophe (yes, truly stresses me out), and being a disappointment to those I love and respect. So, Hope, sister… I feel you!

The second section is where the magic happens! This is the step-by-step guide that you’ve always wanted. I would highly recommend reading a chapter at a time, marinating on that one topic for a couple sleeps, then moving to the next chapter. Rinse and repeat. That will be hard to do because it’s written in a way that’s so dang easy to read that you’ll just fly through it. If that happens, go back to section two and start with the awareness chapter; take it slow. Reflect. I know I’ll be going back to this and reflecting myself.

The third section… we’ll call this one your new best friend. Did you love the section on hooks in Teach Like A Pirate? The section of mini-games at the end of Explore Like A Pirate? You’ll love this toolbox, too! Just trust me!

I feel as though I’m not giving away too much information by sharing the snappy wrap-up at the end of the book. One statement from each chapter is given by Hope & Wade. The statements in and of themselves are powerful, but please believe that the details in the book that back up these statements are astounding.

  1. Be the wild card.

  2. If you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them. (WOW!)

  3. Don’t listen to the Joker.

  4. Always know your WHY.

  5. These things are free: a smile, passion, and enthusiasm.

  6. Lunchtime is a creative opportunity.

  7. Make them want to come to class.

  8. Just do you.

  9. Don’t stop for roadblocks.

  10. Spread the magic.

While reading there were several things that popped out to me as possible implementation plans. A few ideas were to record myself teaching, then watch it and reflect, and rewatch it while muted focusing on my body language (Genius, right? Great idea, Kings!), continue redecorating the media center to meet my own passions because students are interested in seeing any changes happen (truth – check out phase one of the media makeover), maintaining smile, passion, and enthusiasm every single day because they are contagious, and even go see Hamilton! In all seriousness, I have seen this Broadway show advertised in more places than I can count in the past six months. It’s even coming to my state twice over the next few months, and both stints are sold out.

However, my implementation came down to one thing that I connected with as it also aligns to my school’s vision of encouraging the love of lifelong learning in our students. I’ve completed genius hour projects in the media center before, but only a class or grade level at a time and only “mini” projects. They looked like this: “Research all you can find on your chosen topic for 20 minutes, then create a 5 slide presentation to share with your friends.” While that was a great starting point (see my first ever genius hour attempt reflections here.) it wasn’t really what genius hour was intended to be. I’m looking to expand this idea of genius hour to a more open-ended platform. I’ve already committed to having an Innovation Club after school as my implementation of Pure Genius, but I want this to be open to all students. This is one of those projects that relies on student buy-in; no grade, no accountability, no assigned due date. I just want to open up the opportunity to learn about whatever they’d like to learn about and offer the media center and supplies to create something they can share with others. That may be a vlog or blog, podcast, green screen video, stop-motion animation, lego creation, coding endeavor with scratch and the Arduino or MakeyMakey. I’m not sure what they’ll come up with, but the sky is the limit. I just need to offer the space and time. I want it to be completely invitational so students don’t feel as though it’s something else they have to do, but something they get to do. I’m going to work through this in my head and will let you know how it all goes as it unfolds. I just know I want this to happen and as Hope & Wade would say, there are no excuses. If I’m considering it, I need to just do it. So… here we go.

You can find more of Hope & Wade King on their website here. You can also be inspired by them in person at the Get Your Teach On conferences. I’d love to attend the national conference in Texas next summer (fingers crossed)! Hear Wade talk with Vicki (@coolcatteacher) Davis on the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast, then listen to her chat with Hope! Don’t forget to get your copy of The Wild Card. Use the hashtag #BeTheWildCard to connect with other educators reading this book! You can also connect via flipgrid. Andrea Paulakovich had a spectacular idea at the beginning of the summer to create a virtual space for global book studies, so here it is. She and I copilot this space and would love for you to contribute as you finish books! (Also, look for something epic from us soon… just saying.) Andrea also recently wrote a blog post on The Wild Card! I love how she puts her own spin on #DBC50Summer – check it out here!

I didn’t do a lot of tweeting with this book because I was so immersed in what I was reading that I kept forgetting to stop and do a #BookSnap – oops!

Up next in #DBC50Summer is a book from an author you already know and love! Todd Nesloney (of Kids Deserve It) and the amazing educators of Webb Elementary bring us Stories from Webb! I’ve read many of the stories here, but all out of context. Sometimes I open it like the old school Chicken Soup books (Man, what a series!) and just pick a story and read it for inspiration. Now I get to read the entire thing! Looking forward to diving into book 36!

 

#DBC50Summer 34/50: Code Breaker

/ Alicia Ray / 3 Comments

My first experience with coding? High school. Computer Applications 3. We were told to open Notepad on our Dell Optiplex GX110s (yep – big, white computers complete with driver for a 3.5″ diskette). After we were given a sheet with various html codes using angle brackets, we set to creating our own websites. As a junior in high school, I was able to create my first website using code like <h1> and </h1>. My favorite part? I distinctly remember when Mrs. Burgess (Yes, that is really her name! No, the irony of that is not lost on me!) gave us the “cheat codes” to different colored backgrounds and colored text. As soon as I could make my page hot pink and purple, I had succeeded. (Y’all, it was a horrific design. HA!)

Book 34 is a super short, super fast read full of ways to get started with coding in your own classroom/school! Brian Aspinall brings us Code Breaker as book 34 in the Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc line up.

Brian is quick to explain that computer science is not only coding. It’s a way of thinking. He speaks to learning about coding as a language that our students should know, even if they are not planning to become professional programmers. Thinking through the process of writing code is about more than just creating a website or app. It’s about the critical thinking and problem-solving that is put into practice while writing the code. It’s about perseverance and finding those tiny mistakes that can negate an entire block of code. I love his analogy of coding being a part of computer science as biology is a part of natural sciences. That’s when the distinction really clicked for me in a way that I could share with others.

Even if I weren’t already an advocate for teaching students how to code, I would be after reading Code Breaker!

When I became a media coordinator at an elementary school in 2014, I heard about this idea of “Hour of Code” that was taking off in schools across the world. I knew my students needed in on this, so I partnered with our computer teacher and we created a schedule in which every student in our school (yes, even the pre-kindergarten students) would engage in coding within one day. It was fast and furious and so much fun! Our pre-k and kindergarten students enjoyed playing a game of Simon Says and following the tiles along the hallways of our school. They were learning the fundamentals of coding through playing a game they were already familiar with. They learned how the computer only does what the human tells it to do just as they only do what Simon says to do in the game. We then moved from analog coding (unplugged activities) to using code.org for our emerging readers. This is a great place to go for coding instruction, allowing learners (even you!) to move through a curriculum designed for any age group. Even though I’ve moved to a middle school, the Hour of Code has not only continued in that elementary school, but has spread throughout my district.

If you’ve participated in the Hour of Code and are ready to move to the next thing in coding, check out Brian’s book! He gives many ways to integrate coding into multiple subject areas at a variety of ages. There are QR codes linked throughout the book to blog posts to further your learning, as well as examples and resources. At the end of the book there are several more resources, and educators to follow are listed throughout the pages of Code Breaker.

I have some of my favorite resources to share with you as well.

There are several unplugged games to get you started, too!

Earlier this year, I facilitated a session on Coding Camps and shared our activities in a five day summer camp. That slide deck can be accessed here.

With the strides we’ve already made to include coding across our district, I was a bit apprehensive about how I could implement Code Breaker in the new school year. Luckily Brian provides to many new ideas that finding something to implement was incredibly easy! For this book, I will be working with my math team to use MinecraftEDU to show patterns in both constant rate of change and growing patterns as he describes in chapter 4! This experience fits perfectly in our curriculum and we already use Minecraft to do multiple lessons, so students will be excited to see it implemented in patterns as well!

Brian provides excellent resources on his website. Brian has three TEDx Talks! Click for access to Hacking the Classroom, Education Reform, and Beyond Rote Learning. Don Wettrick (remember Pure Genius – such a good book!) interviewed Brian in his StartEdUp podcast. MindShare Learning did a video podcast with Brian, and The Ed Podcast just released a podcast with Brian earlier this summer about coding and why it isn’t necessarily the most important thing being learned (LOVE THIS!). As always, Andrea Paulakovich and I are copiloting a flipgrid which allows for collaboration on a global scale reflecting on each DBC, Inc book. Andrea had this incredible idea of using flipgrid at the beginning of the summer, and I was fortunate enough to get to be part of it! Feel free to share your thoughts with the community here; if no one has posted, be bold and start the conversation! The Twitter community uses the hashtag #CodeBreaker to discuss the ideas in this book. Speaking of Twitter, here are a couple of my reflective tweets while reading the book. Brian speaks so much truth in so few pages! Be sure to grab your copy now!

 

 

I was excited to finally be able to read book 34 and am equally pumped to get to read book 35! If you’ve heard of The Ron Clark Academy and believe in what the educators there in Atlanta are doing for their students, you will also be excited about book 35! It was written by the husband-wife team of Wade & Hope King, educators at The Ron Clark Academy and is called The Wild Card. Prepare to be inspired to get creative with book 35!

#DBC50Summer 33/50: Culturize

/ Alicia Ray / 2 Comments

Thirty-three books in and I experienced another first while reading Culturize by Jimmy Casas. This is the first time I have read the final page of a Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc book at a loss for words. I literally had nothing to say… which meant the blog post would have to wait. A blank blog post won’t help anyone.

Two days… it’s been two days since I finished reading Culturize and I’m still struggling with my thoughts. This post may come out a jumbled up mess. I’m not even going to edit (much), so be prepared for a hot mess express. Usually I know exactly what I’m going to say, with quotes highlighted and implementation plan ready. This time…I’m not even sure where this one is going. So bear with me, and let’s see what happens together.

culturize

(Pause for ice cream break… possibly ice cream will help.)

Ice cream didn’t help. Also, I now feel guilty for eating ice cream at 9:30 at night. Marvelous.

From the very beginning, Jimmy gripped my heart and pulled at my soul. I spent the entire time I read this book wondering if I could have done better. Normally when I read these books, I feel inspired, motivated, excited to implement… with Culturize, I just feel guilty. Jimmy mentions that feeling of guilt frequently in the book. Guilt when a student drops out, guilt when a student lashes out, guilt that he could have done more. I, too, feel that guilt. I think as educators, we all feel that guilt. Honestly, if we don’t – we likely aren’t feeling anything… apathy. Because let’s be honest, if you aren’t feeling guilt, you’re not in the game 100%. That sounds completely pessimistic and very judgmental. Hear me out… have you ever engaged someone in talking negatively about your school? Have you ever found yourself agreeing with someone who puts down the profession of education? Have you ever acted as an educational martyr? If you’re giving every ounce of yourself to help your students, you know by now that you cannot save them all. Y’all – it’s just not possible. And those that you can’t save… well, they bring with them the guilt of not being able to save them. So again – if you’re not feeling guilty at some point, perhaps you’re not really “getting it”.

Jimmy opens by talking about the kids who walk down the hall feeling invisible. I’ve often wondered which of my middle school students feel invisible. I want every. single. one. to know that I see them. But do I really? Do I really see them? Tonight at our open house, I realized just how many names of students I had forgotten over the summer. I constantly advocate for calling students by name, but I couldn’t have told you half of their names as they walked up to me. Do you have any idea how guilty I felt about that? I must do better. Must. No child should ever feel invisible. Every single kid should have a champion (Thank you, Rita Pierson) – someone who really sees them. I can’t be that for every kid, but shouldn’t I try? At what point do I invest in quality over quantity?

Perhaps this is what Jimmy was referring to as he discusses that we are all leaders. I remember thinking early in my career that my principal was the school leader. It was a very clear hierarchy – principal, assistant principal, curriculum specialist, school improvement team chair, grade level chair, and somewhere waaaaay down that totem pole… me. At some point, it changed. That totem pole was chopped down; the hierarchy fell. I remember the first time my assistant principal asked me for my opinion. It scared me, and exhilarated me at the same time. I remember the first time I stepped up to present at our district teaching and learning conference. I was terrified, and now I present all over our state. At some point, I started acting like a leader. My words, my body language, my convictions moved me into leadership. I’ve never wanted to be an administrator. When I started my career in education, the equation was simple: administration = leadership. Reflecting, I think it was when I saw MYSELF as a leader, I embodied the leadership that I saw in others. It wasn’t until that confidence was built that I ever imagined leading others. Jimmy says that leaders don’t need a title. I agree. Administration no longer is the sole equality to leadership. Leaders just need followers who are then empowered to become leaders themselves.

Within Core Principle 1 (there are 4 core principles), Jimmy says that lack of confidence is the number one reason that kids fail. I think it’s also the number one reason adults fail, too. I was talking to a friend of mine once who said, in response to my feeling doubtful that I had anything to offer to the friendship, “that’s part of the problem, the fact that you don’t see yourself as special is part of this for you.” My friend was completely on target. My own self-doubt was negating the beginning of a wonderful friendship. Thankfully, I’ve been able to build on that and I wouldn’t take anything for that friendship. It means the world to me. I still struggle with self-confidence every day, though. Affirmations can help build confidence – more than anyone will ever understand. Self-doubt can eat you up if you let it. Shake it off. Just like we find the positive in others, find the positive in yourself. List at least 5 things that you’re good at, and allow yourself to feel pride. Humility is valued. It’s possible to be humble without doubting your own successes.

In Culturize, Jimmy says often that “What we model is what we get”. What am I modeling for my students and staff? Am I finding the positive in day-to-day interactions? Am I believing from the tips of my toes to the top of my head that every one of my students can be successful? Am I showing grace to others? Do I stay calm when something comes along to mess up the plans I so carefully crafted? Probably not. We’re human, we mess up. Do I apologize to those I’ve wronged? These are very real questions if we consider ourselves leaders.

Another thought Jimmy shares often is that we are responsible for our own actions.

“No one is responsible for determining your success or failure but you, and no one is responsible for your morale but you.” ~Jimmy Casas, Culturize

Oh boy! That right there felt like a punch in the gut! I have been known to complain about the sheer amount of complaints from those around me. (Yes, I know… ironic. You do it, too, don’t lie.) It drives me crazy to be around people who constantly find something negative to say. But here’s the thing…. what am I doing about it? I sit there, and nod my head along with them. Who is that helping? Then I turn around and complain to someone else that I was in a great mood until so-and-so got me down. What? What am I even saying? Does that make sense at all? I am responsible for my morale. Why am I lowering my standard of positivity to meet their miserable attitude? Let’s be real. Nothing happened directly to me; I was just fine until the pit of negativity appeared. Why am I not just fine afterward? and why in the world am I allowing them to continue with the negativity around me? I need to do better. My kids deserve better. If I call myself a leader, and I internalize what it means to be a leader – then dang it, I need to lead. I’ve got to speak up and halt the negativity I hear around me.

Sometimes when I’m wallowing in my own misery (yes, it happens), my “little” brother (he’s 28 and married with two kids of his own) will look at me all innocently and say, “but did you die?”… I need to reframe my perspective.

The media center is being used for pictures! “But did you die?”

I’ve not met with PLCs because the location keeps changing. “But did you die?”

This student left their Chromebook at home for the 100th time. “But did you die?”

The bulb on my projector looks so dim that I have to turn off my lights. “But did you die?”

The TV in the cafeteria won’t mirror the TV in the lobby for announcements.

“But. Did. You. Die?”

There’s too much big stuff to worry about to let the little things ruffle my feathers anymore. Or allow others to have their feathers ruffled. As a leader, I need to shake my feathers back down when daily mishaps come along and help others remember their purpose as well. Rather than complain, determine if whatever happened is even within my sphere of influence. If not, then move on – if it is, then change it. Simple enough, right? When others start on their negative campaign, I’ve got to remember my brother’s “but did you die?” – it just puts things into perspective. I want to be a “merchant of hope” as Jimmy says in his 4th core principle. Believing that my words and actions can inspire others, I need to watch what I say and do. What I model is what I will get.

With all that – I have no idea if I’ve made (as we say in the south) a lick of sense. Welcome to my brain. It’s a terrifying place to be sometimes. (HA)

The only implementation plan I’ve got for this book is to live out the four core principles, every day. This is going to have to be intentional because it’s so easy to be drawn back into the quicksand of negativity that can quickly pull you down. Instead of fighting, I need to stay still, wait, plan, and then move slowly, crawling out of the quicksand and moving away, bringing the others with me helping them avoid that same pit. So in the new school year, I will be a champion for my students, expect excellence from them and the staff I work with (ALL of them… because all means all), carry the banner (with pride and enthusiasm for my school), and be a merchant of hope. Because when all else fails, hope will get us through the worst of the worst. Because at the end of the day, we didn’t die… so tomorrow, we can get up and try again.

You’ve got to get this book. I don’t know any other way to say it. It’s a game-changer. I have said of every book that I recommend it, but this one… this one right here is one that every person should have. It’s one that needs to be revisited frequently. If you truly want to change your school, you have to change you first. Culturize requires a self-examination that you may not be ready for… I wasn’t. My scattered thoughts are evidence that I’m continuing to wrestle with book 33. I will wrestle with this one for a while. I am putting it back on the shelf, but the change feels incomplete. I feel as though the growth just kickstarted. #DBC50Summer has challenged me and what I think of education multiple times. This book is the equivalent to that moment when the GPS just found a traffic jam up ahead and had the foresight to go ahead and re-route you without you even knowing what was going on. Just trust it. Follow it. Just go get the dang book already.

Here’s the tweets. I’ll just sit back and let Jimmy do his thing here.

 

 

 

 

Resources and Podcasts and YouTube, oh my!

Jimmy Casas Slide Deck for Culturize

Jimmy Casas blog

Perspectives in Education podcast

Jimmy’s advice for hiring for excellence

Principal Matters podcast

#IAedchat Live – Feb 25, 2018

Truth for Teachers podcast

Flipgrid for Culturize (Thank you Andrea Paulakovich for this incredible idea and the opportunity to copilot a flipgrid with all DBC, Inc books for global connections!)

**If you’ve made it this far, I’ve got to apologize for the length of this post and the scattered thoughts on this spectacular book. However, keep in mind that I started #DBC50Summer for my own personal growth. This is for my growth so I can better impact my students and teachers. I hope you were able to take something from it as well, but if you take nothing else from this post – buy the book and follow Jimmy Casas on Twitter. Now! Thanks for reading.**

Book 34 is Code Breaker by Brian Aspinall. I’ve presented at multiple conferences on coding in the classroom, started the Hour of Code at my former elementary school, and helped rewrite the elementary school computer science curriculum to include a focus on coding almost 4 years ago, and played a collaborative role in the creation of a middle school curriculum for computer science. So to say I’m excited about this is an understatement. Let’s go!